


Someone Else's Memory Lane

by BloodiedRose



Series: Broken Crown [4]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Backstory, Developing Relationship, Genocide, M/M, Post-Season/Series 01, Psychic Bond, Reconciliation, Whump, tenth doctor - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:01:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9685964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodiedRose/pseuds/BloodiedRose
Summary: There's a new alien in town. Charlie may have been bitten by a vampire. There are bugs everywhere. Fences get broken. And somehow Matteusz ends up on Rhodia.(Reading previous parts of the series is not necessary to understanding this fic, but they do help).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, so far this is the longest instalment. And by longest I mean over twice the length. I was originally going to post it all at once but I decided to do it in smaller doses (not because I'm having trouble writing a later part I don't know where you would get that idea who is spreading such rumours). I think it works well this way, anyhow. 
> 
> I mean it when I say there are a lot of bugs in this fic. Also, you know how in the first part the Violence warning was mostly for implications? Yeah, not this time. There is some very graphic violence later on.

A creature clawed through a gap in the wooden window pane. Not an insect, though it moved like one. There was silence in the home. It was a rare night in what was possibly the most bizarre household on Earth. Everyone was asleep. A boy slept on the new air mattress (that Quill had thrown at him one day because she was sick of him constantly clicking stiff joints back into place because he had been spending almost two months sleeping on a short couch). His heart was full of discomfort, but it was mostly for the sake of someone else. He could accept his own memory. The creature scuttered away, making note. In another room, there was a woman resting soundly. A woman with a heart full of rage and bitterness, but there was love as well. Both had negative emotions that seemed to point in the same direction. Up the stairs was a baby. Too young. Such a thing would have no need for the creature’s help. 

But there was another room upstairs. Another boy was sleeping on the bed. It was not a particularly restful slumber; he was tossing and turning in the dark. Or as dark as his room could get. There was always a dim glow from the streetlamps outside, which in turn reflected on the stars he had scattered across his walls and ceiling. (He had arrived on Earth as a recent victim of creatures that thrived in the dark and so had done his best to ensure that he would never be in pitch black again.) Not that it did much to assuage his current nightmares. The boy was whimpering in his sleep, sweat dotting his brow. This boy needed it’s help. The negative emotions from the other two in the house seemed to centre on him. There must be a discord. Discords needed to be solved.

The creature scuttered onto the bed and up the boy’s arm. It was almost thrown away when the boy tossed again, but it managed to hang on. The boy’s neck was easier to access now. The creature continued up the boy’s back before placing itself at the base of his skull. It buried itself in the small hollow at the top of his neck, raised it’s pincers, and bit down. The boy grunted. It knew that the process was a painful one, it had been told to be gentle and tried so very hard to be. The boy was whining now and gripping tightly onto a pillow. He smelled like tears. It reached out a small leg and petted his neck in an attempt to soothe him and continued to drink. When it had reached its fill, the creature slowly removed its pincers from the boy’s neck. He went limp. The creature crawled up his wall, the sparkly wall of stars, and then out an open window. It walked along the strange Earth pavement with a spring in its steps. It had a full belly and a job well done.

“There you are.” It was picked up and cradled in slimy arms. It curled into them, purring softly. A small syringe was held out, and it stuck it’s tail out and injected it’s dinner inside. The syringe was held up and inspected. The creature was given generous pets down it’s spine. “Good boy! You have found some beautiful memories for me, haven’t you?”

\---

Matteusz wrung the face cloth in his hands so that the excess water would fall back into the bowl it had came from. When he was sure that he had removed all of the water he could, he dabbed it across Charlie’s face. He was not sure when it had started. All Matteusz knew was that when he came to ask if Charlie would be going to school, he had seen his maybe boyfriend shivering in bed while sweat poured from his forehead. All indications suggested that Charlie was suffering from a fever, which Matteusz had been willing to blame on a cold brought on by the changing seasons. Until he saw the blood. Matteusz understood that there were complications regarding Charlie’s physical form but he doubted that the change in physiology from Rhodian to Human could lead to bleeding from the neck. Blood that was coming from two puncture wounds at the base of Charlie’s skull. Matteusz was not sure if the presence of aliens automatically proved via the Why Not? principle that vampires existed, but he had crossed himself anyway.

Charlie had been drifting in and out of consciousness since then while Matteusz did his best to keep Charlie’s fever from rising. A bandage was covering the wound and had not yet been touched by the blood. It did not seem like the wounds themselves were serious, but the combination of bite marks and the symptoms made Matteusz fear poison. He clasped Charlie’s hand tightly and could feel the faintest squeeze back whenever Charlie’s face scrunched up in pain. Matteusz lay the cloth on Charlie’s forehead to cool it down, before smoothing back Charlie’s sweat soaked hair. Charlie cracked his eyes open, winced, and shut them. Matteusz had tried to turn on the light earlier but it had only led to Charlie screaming in pain. Even after all they had been through, Matteusz had never heard Charlie scream solely in physical pain before. The lights were now off and the blinds pulled as tight as possible to hide away the sun.

Matteusz felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He turned it on- it was cheap and clunky and could only get the internet if he was sitting near a modem, but it had been one of the last gifts he received from his parents so he was still fond of it. He was not Charlie, who had to be connected to google at all times, so call, text, and take photos was all that his phone needed to be able to do. There was a new message from April. There had been a few from her since she had gotten ‘her’ body back. Many of them asking about Charlie (she was the only one who actually had the courage to), but a few were just wanting to talk to Matteusz. April was still more Charlie’s friend than his. The two of them had just clicked it seemed. Matteusz liked her, more than liked her he was rather fond of her, but they did not have that instant and deep connection. They had never spoken much before the Shadow Kin gatecrashed Prom, and after they had been busy. April was dealing with sharing a heart and developing a new relationship, while Matteusz was dealing with his homophobic parents and alien boyfriend. It was not often they were alone with each other to have a good old heart to heart. Or, half a heart to heart as the case may have been. 

_R u two ok? U weren’t at school_ , April had sent. Matteusz looked down at Charlie, who had begun to breathe as if he had run a marathon. He did not want to worry April that her best friend, even if Charlie had been avoiding her, may be dying from the venom of an unknown predator. He also did not want to lie. Their group had far too many lies and secrets for a group that was meant to be saving the world. Some secrets were certainly allowed. They did not have to tell each other everything- in fact, there were some things that Matteusz very much did not want to know. Ram (and Tanya) may have a frankly bizarre interest in his and Charlie’s sex lives, but that interest was not mutual. There were other things, but that subject was at the top of the ‘no, thank you’ list. Friends did not have to tell each other everything. Matteusz had found sometimes that it was better if they didn’t. Especially after the detention debacle. But some things you should share. Even if it was not the whole truth.

 _Charlie’s sick_ , Matteusz replied. Not a lie. Enough detail for them to have a vague idea of what was going on. Maybe that was all it was. Charlie was sick, and had also been bitten by an insect, but the things were not even slightly related. Definitely not anything alien. Nothing to worry about whatsoever. Matteusz was just having difficulty breathing because he had been shut inside all day and the room was stuffy. In no way was he panicking about finally returning to something that at least resembled their relationship with a Charlie who was present in body _and_ mind, only to lose the man he loved to something that had bit him in the night. Only Matteusz was allowed to bite Charlie, thank you very much. Because he was not venomous, nor did he draw blood, and he most certainly did not do it hard enough to hurt. That would defeat the purpose. He doubted that whatever did this to Charlie was doing it as a love nip. Maybe it had. No, that was too weird for Matteusz to handle, so he buried that thought in the back of his brain and finished his text. _Don’t know why yet_.

Matteusz pressed send and returned his attention to Charlie. Who was watching him. His eyes were only barely open, but it was enough to see. Maybe the panadol (which Matteusz had only given Charlie half a pill of, for fear that alien biology may react differently and Matteusz would end up killing Charlie with a small dose of painkillers) was starting to kick in. Matteusz smiled at him gently. Charlie’s face relaxed and he brushed Matteusz’s hand with his fingertips. It was probably all he had the strength to do. Even lying in bed, quite ill and possibly dying, Charlie was the most beautiful thing Matteusz had ever seen. And he had seen Charlie’s artwork. 

“How are you feeling?” Matteusz asked in a whisper. Charlie did not wince when he whispered like he had when Matteusz had been speaking normally. 

“Hurts,” Charlie replied in the same whisper, though Matteusz did not know if it was because he knew loud noises would hurt his head or because Charlie simply did not have the energy to speak any louder. “Feel… drained. In my mind.”

Matteusz leant forward and kissed Charlie on the head, just above the edges of the towel. Charlie sighed and it sounded… happy. Charlie always did enjoy it when Matteusz was physically affectionate even if Charlie had difficulty initiating it. Training to be a King obviously included Lesson number 165: Future Monarchs Shall Not Ask For Hugs From Their Boyfriends No Matter How Desperately They Want One. As a result, Matteusz had quickly developed the skill of understanding just when Charlie needed to be touched and what way was best to touch him. A kiss on the head could be too much at times, while at others a hug could trigger a small scale attack of claustrophobia. It was all about balance. He wished that Charlie would initiate touches sometimes, but understood that there seemed to be something that blocked him. The only time Charlie had actually started anything was when Matteusz had admitted that he loved him. There had been a lot of first times that night. So Matteusz learned to read when Charlie needed to be held, and to ask if he needed Charlie to hold him.

“Is it alright if I check your neck? Matteusz asked. Charlie nodded weakly. He groaned and rolled over to his side. Matteusz winced as he saw the bandage on the back of Charlie’s neck. As gently as he could, Matteusz pulled back the tape keeping the bandage attached to Charlie’s skin. The bandage had only small pinpricks of blood on it that had long since dried. It seemed like the bleeding had stopped. There were no signs of infection or poisoning, so perhaps Charlie’s illness was the result of something else. Matteusz rubbed some cream onto it and Charlie grunted as it stung. Even if the wound was no longer bleeding it probably was not a good idea to leave it uncovered, so Matteusz replaced the bandage. Once that was done, Matteusz lay down beside Charlie and gathered him into his arms. He was not tired but he could tell by the slowing down of his breathing that Charlie was already asleep. No matter what had happened, Matteusz rarely felt better than when he had Charlie in his arms. 

He must have dozed off, because before he knew it he was woken up by his phone vibrating as someone called him. Matteusz reached out for it and after some fumbling picked it up. It was mid evening, and Tanya was calling him. He answered the call.

“Aliens!” Tanya yelled into the phone. It sounded like she was running.

“Aliens what?!”

“I dunno, we think it’s aliens, bug aliens, oh hang on!” There were some loud bangs, a few screams (it sounded like Ram and April were with her), and then the heavy sound of a door being shut. Matteusz could hear something scraping across the ground. They must have been barricading the door. There was a break as he heard Tanya desperately trying to catch her breath. “We found some people just like, collapsed on the street. With these circles just above their eye, it’s so _weird_. We saw a woman, I think it was a woman it looked like a woman but not a human one and who knows how gender works in space.”

It was true, Matteusz had had more than some frustrating moments trying to explain it to Charlie. There had been many blank looks, as would be expected trying to explain something that he had been taught was such an important fabric of society to someone who did not even have a basic grasp of the concept. From what he had gathered from their conversations, Rhodians did have something similar (or similar enough that Charlie would still sort of identify as male) but it was less distinct. And significantly less permanent. 

“You need to get to the school!” Tanya yelled, before abruptly cutting the connection. It seemed their rest and recuperation from alien invasion had officially ended. No rest for the wicked, after all. Matteusz slid his arm out from underneath Charlie, who was still sound asleep. His fever had gone down significantly and he was resting better. Matteusz hoped it meant that Charlie was improving. On reflex, Matteusz pressed a kiss to Charlie’s cheek and leapt to his feet. He pulled on some clothes, some shoes, and ran out the door. Quill was not home- again- so he locked the door behind him. The run to school helped keep Matteusz’s mind off the fact that he had just, after so long of them being more chaste than two elderly nuns, kissed Charlie. His mind could not decide if the jolt in his body was from the excitement or a disturbing desire to burn his lips off. 

As he got closer to Coal Hill, Matteusz saw what Tanya had been talking about. People were collapsed on the streets, the footpaths, and in gardens. They all looked like they were sleeping, but the loved ones that were standing by a few were unable to wake them. Each person had a bright ring over their right eyebrow. It almost looked like they had been hit in the head with something circular. Matteusz hoped they were not dead. Just once he would like a victimless invasion, especially after everything they had been through in recent months. He was close to the school. Matteusz took his eyes away from what was going on around him and focused on his destination.

He was running so hard he almost ran into April. She gasped and raised her hand to attack him, but upon realising who he was threw her arms around him instead. Ram and Tanya were following up behind her and panting heavier than she was. It made him wonder if her new body had come with a few extra perks. 

“I think we got them,” Ram choked out. “I hate bugs.”

“Are you okay?” April asked. “What about Charlie? You said he was sick, did he have a mark above his eye?”

“No, and he can wake up,” Matteusz replied. “But he has bite wound. You said there were bugs?”

“Sort of bugs. They move like bugs. Have a heap of legs. But with scorpion tails and fur and these _long_ teeth.” Tanya shuddered. “They’d be adorable if they weren’t so gross.”

“Maybe he got bitten by one?” Ram asked. “Yuck.”

“Anyone else been bitten?” Matteusz tried to think if he had seen anyone exhibiting similar symptoms to Charlie on his race to the school. He had been certain that Charlie was getting better, but who knew how space bug venom worked. Whatever it was, it better not make Charlie a were-bug or something. Would Charlie still be a were-bug if he was an alien? 

“Dunno. Weren’t racing to find out.” Ram was clutching his side. It seemed he had let some of his football training waste away in light of what happened. Not that Matteusz could blame him. 

“We should get out of here,” April said, pulling Matteusz’s arm. “Find somewhere safe so we can figure out a plan.”

 

“Or we could follow the space bugs,” Tanya croaked, pointing to something in the distance. There were bug like creatures everywhere. All of them were scuttering in the same direction. Mateusz heard a small whining sound coming from Ram’s direction. They all gulped before starting to walk slowly alongside the bugs. Out of the corner of his eye, Matteusz could see Tanya pulling a reluctant Ram along by his sleeve. They walked down the footpath, before being stopped by a fence.

“Well, we’re gonna have to climb it.” The bugs were going in a steady stream up the fence and over. 

“Ram should go first,” Matteusz said. “He is strong enough to catch people. I can climb without boost.”

The girls both nodded, but Ram looked almost as if he were about to cry. April just looked at him and nodded her head towards the fence. Ram muttered under his breath about bugs and rubbed his hands together. He grabbed onto wooden plank and began to climb. April rubbed a consoling hand on his back as he rose. When he reached the top, Ram sat on the fence for a few moments with his eyes closed. He jumped down. There was a loud squelching sound when he landed, followed by a groan of disgust.

“I think I squashed some,” Ram whined from the other side of the fence. Tanya went next. Her climb was less steady but more determined. She did not jump straight from the top like Ram had, choosing instead to climb a bit more down the other side before jumping. There was another squelch. April went next. She could not get her feet on the planks. It seemed that if her new body had given her an increase in stamina, it had also given her a decrease in dexterity. 

“Just take your time. I will catch you if you fall,” Matteusz promised. April smiled at him nervously before trying again. The climb was slow because April kept having to stop to make sure her feet were tucked firmly onto the planks and her fingers were gripping tightly above her. Eventually she made it to the top and began to climb down. There was a snap of wood, a sharp cry, and she disappeared from view.

“I’m okay!” She yelled. 

“I’m not,” came Ram’s voice as he wheezed. “You’re crushing me!”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Some of the wood’s broken!” Tanya yelled over the fence. “You’re going to have to jump down!” Matteusz nodded and prepared himself for the climb, trying to get a good grip on the wood-

There was a tap on his shoulder. He spun around, but was thrown to the floor by a blow to the head. He sprawled on the ground. There was a woman above him. She looked human, except her eyes were slitted like a snakes and her skin was a pale green. She was smiling down at him. In her hands was something that looked terrifyingly like a giant needle. Matteusz could hear everyone calling for him on the other side of the fence and some banging as someone tried to climb up. He wanted to respond, but he was too transfixed on what was happening. The woman straddled him and raised the needle.

“I can help you,” she said. It was a sweet voice, one that reminded him of how his mother would speak to him when he was ill as a child. He managed to feel even more terrified. “No more anger.”

She brought the needle down above his right eyebrow and pushed a plunger. Matteusz could feel it sinking in, forcing it’s way through his skull and into his brain. His skull felt as if it was splitting open and he was sure he had never felt this much pain in his life. Everything in his brain was going at once. He felt like he was convulsing but he was paralysed. There was a horrible sound in the air, he did not think it was possible for anyone to scream like that, but it was _him_ , it was him _screaming_ -

And then he wasn’t on Earth anymore. He wasn’t lying on grass separated from his friends while an alien stabbed something into his brain. No, he was lying on something hard but not concrete. It felt more like the polished floor of a train station. And he was looking at something far more beautiful than a fence. There was grass lined with a row of trees with white bark blooming beautiful pink flowers as far as he could see. He could hear the sound of a waterfall in the distance. Flying creatures that were more reminiscent of dinosaurs than birds were soaring above the trees. They let out cries of long high pitched notes that would make opera singers jealous. There were small flashes of light and where he was lying (a veranda, maybe?) became filled with people bustling around him. Through him. They were walking through him. So, he was not really here. At least not physically. Of course he wasn’t, he had been in London a few seconds ago.

He was being bathed in a soft glow so he turned around. Through the open doors behind him was a great hall brimming with people. It was filled with tables piled high with food. The noise of discussion, laughter, and music echoed through the air. It looked like a banquet. Matteusz turned around again, only to see the sky lit up as if it were being painted by a rainbow. The colours were blending together. It almost looked like someone had drawn distinct streaks of pastel colours across the clouds and then smudged it. He had seen it before. Not the exact same, but similar enough for it clearly to be what it was. A sunset. A sunset that he had seen on the walls of Baby Quill’s room. A sunset that was being watched by a child standing in front of him. 

They were clearly not a human child. Their hair was a deep blue, their skin a light grey with blue spots like a leopard, and there were spikes lining their chin and disappearing under their shirt collar. Matteusz could see pointed ears poking through their hair, the points appearing more dangerous than what the elves had worn in Lord of the Rings. Matteusz got to his feet and walked closer to the child. They were looking at the sky with fondness in their eyes. He felt envious that the child probably got to see these magnificent sunsets almost every day. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. 

“Your highness?” 

Matteusz and the child both turned around. A man was approaching them. He was graceful, even though the clothes he was wearing looked as if they would crush Matteusz if he ever tried to put them on. Suddenly Matteusz felt warmth at seeing the man, followed by a sharp pang of worry. He felt afraid of being scolded. Which was bizarre seeing as he was fairly certain he was currently not actually there. That look of panic was evident in the child’s eyes, though. It faded when the man chuckled.

“You are always so entranced with the setting sun. Your highness will be an artist one day, I am most certain of it.”

There was another surge of warmth in Matteusz’s heart. He felt a blush rising to his cheeks. Matteusz had never been one for art, more a fan of music than paintings, but he felt as if he had just received the most gracious of compliments. There was disappointment too. Something that had been forbidden. 

“But you should return to the festivities before you get cold,” the man continued. “Lest you fall ill. Her majesty would be most upset if her son were to fall ill on her birthday.” 

The child nodded. Never upset mother. Never make her sad, or angry. Never disappoint her. But Matteusz had already disappointed his mother. And his mother had broken his heart in return. The man smiled and held out his hand. The child smiled back but did not take it. Instead they walked forward and the hand was rested as the lightest touch on the child’s back. Almost as if the man was scared to touch them.

“There will be many more sunsets to light up the skies of Rhodia, Prince K’har-les,” the man said as he led them into the hall. K’har-les. It lasted only a few moments in his mind before it was being translated in his mind. Prince Charles. Matteusz felt his breath escape him as he watched the child- the boy- walk into the dining hall with a bearing that no child should have. Spine straight and shoulders back, with gentle eyes but a firm expression. It was a bearing that Matteusz had spent many hours studying.

_Charlie._


	2. Chapter 2

“Charlie! Open the door!” April cried, banging on the blue door with her fist. Tanya and Ram were holding Matteusz up. Ram was in charge of most of his body weight while Tanya was mostly just keeping his ridiculously long legs out of the way. The door swung open. Charlie was shivering despite the sweat beads traveling down his face, and his eyes had a feverish gleam to them, but he seemed steady on his feet. Until he saw Matteusz. He ran forward and began touching Matteusz in an attempt to see if he was alright. Charlie pressed his hands to Matteusz’s neck and relaxed slightly when he found the pulse. When Tanya had checked when they found him, it had been strong and slow. Almost like he was in a deep sleep.

“We need to get him inside,” Ram said through gritted teeth. Charlie did not seem to notice at first. It was like he was a lagging youtube video. After a few seconds he looked up at Ram, nodded, and helped them carry Matteusz inside. All without an indication of realising that he had been completely frozen. They laid Matteusz on the airbed. April wondered why there was an airbed in the living room. It must have been where Matteusz had been sleeping. She wondered whose choice it had been for him to move out of the room he had shared with Charlie. 

Charlie did not seem to notice what was going on around him. He was focused entirely on Matteusz’s sleeping face, rubbing his chest gently and whispering to him. It felt like too intimate a moment for them to be watching. It also reminded April of those scenes in movies when a character cradled the corpse of someone they loved and talked to them as if they hadn’t long since been gone. Death had made her morbid, but it was still an accurate comparison. One that she had a heartbreaking certainty that Charlie would recreate if Matteusz were to die from whatever had been done to him. 

“We need to figure out what’s happened to him,” Tanya said as she paced around the room.

“He was screaming so much,” April whispered. “I’ve never heard someone in that much pain before.”

“Whatever it’s doing, that seems like a weird place to inject someone. Why not the eye, or the temple?”

“Alien biology?” Ram asked. “Maybe it doesn’t realise humans have tough foreheads.”

“How do you know it’s injections?”

“That thing she was carrying was a pressure syringe.”

“Why’s she injecting people though? Seems to me like she could just stick those damn bugs on ‘em.”

“Yeah… yeah she could. What doesn’t she?” Tanya stopped pacing and spun around. “Charlie, let me see that bite.”

Charlie had looked up at the mention of his name, and bowed his head in reply to her request. April thought that he was refusing until she saw the bandage just below his hairline. Tanya ran over and pulled the bandage off as gently as she could. The wounds looked as if they had happened a few days ago now. Something must have been healing them. Tanya pressed the skin around them with light touches.

“These are definitely the right size for those thing’s teeth. They go deep too. Tell me what happened,” Tanya demanded.

“I don’t… really know.” Charlie clenched Matteusz’s hand when Tanya accidentally pressed too close to the bite. “I was dreaming. Bad dreams. When I felt this pain like I had been stabbed. Then I began to feel like it was draining me.”

“Draining. Like blood?”

“Please not vampires,” Ram muttered. “It better not be freaking vampires.”

“Like… it was trying to suck my soul out of my body. Like it had reached inside my head and grabbed a hold of my thoughts and was trying to pull them out even if it had to rip me to pieces to get it.” Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. He was looking far away, the look usually reserved for Rhodia and all its skeletons. He opened his mouth to speak again. Something seemed to stop him because he closed it again. There was silence as he looked at Matteusz. Charlie brought down his hand from his neck and softly touched a finger to Matteusz’s cheek. His other hand was still clasping the sleeping boy’s. “I hope beyond belief they did not do that to him.”

\---

Time was moving again. It reminded Matteusz of Harry Potter, the way the ghosts of people and voices as they drifted through time echoed around him. That always had been his favourite instalment of the series. He should have been bored watching the day to day happenings of Charlie’s childhood. Instead he was fascinated. Charlie was a far better disciplined child than Matteusz had been with almost no actual disciplinary action required. Any comment he wanted to make out of turn was swallowed down. The natural restlessness of a child was kept buried until the sparring sessions (Charlie was so young, and so small, but already he was being taught to fight) where it all came out in a flurry of energy.

But he could not call Charlie an unhappy child. A lonely one, perhaps. Matteusz had never seen Charlie play or even catch sight of a child his own age. There was no reason for children that young to be in the palace. Matteusz could feel a sharp ache every time they caught glimpse of the staff laughing together as they worked, but it was eased when the staff would keep those smiles on when they looked at Charlie. There was a maid who would always ramble on about her daily life, about her mother and siblings and the girl or boy she currently fancied. Charlie’s fighting instructor would always encourage him while making jokes that would have Charlie giggling in spite of the pain in his muscles. The man who had greeted them when Matteusz first arrived was the speech writer that Charlie had spoken about, as well as his tutor and mentor. He could see why Charlie considered him a friend.

Matteusz knew he should have been happy to see these people, but it just made him hurt. Charlie had been so _loved_ here. His parents treated affection as if it was a dirty word but it seemed as if everyone else were doing their damndest to make up for that. He thought about the small jabs they had made on Earth about Charlie’s lack of understanding at times and realised just how homesick it must have made him feel. Yet Charlie still called them his friends. Matteusz had his own insecurities, and he more than knew what it felt like to wonder if your friends were just nice to you because they were nice people. Tanya was right, they all felt that way. But Charlie was _certain_ of it. That everyone on Rhodia liked him only because they felt it was their duty. That no one could truly like him, because not even his parents could. They were just being cordial to their future ruler. Charlie was far too young to be having such thoughts. 

Time slowed down in Charlie’s bedroom. It was the middle of the night, so the sky had turned a rich dark blue. Matteusz had found that he could sleep if he wanted to here but never felt tired. Often he chose instead to drink in the sounds and sights of an alien planet at night. It was so beautiful here. He understood why Charlie would call it paradise. The typical sounds of animals bustling outside was being drowned out tonight, however. Instead there was a low bell. Loud enough to make the ground vibrate and singing mournful and frightening tones.

Charlie gasped as he woke up. Matteusz felt a surge of fear inside his chest. They were not bells. They were alarms. There was an intruder inside the palace. Charlie was breathing heavily in the dark, clinging onto the blankets of his bed. Matteusz wanted to gather Charlie in his arms and comfort him. He could not. No matter how much it hurt he could not reassure Charlie in any way. Matteusz was not really there after all. Any touch went through a person and any sound he made would be unheard. He could do nothing. There was banging outside, followed by gunshots. They jumped together with every shot. Matteusz could not protect him. 

They had to hide. Charlie rolled out of the bed and crawled across the floor. Matteusz crouched beside him, watching the door. Screams were coming from outside. More gunshots. He cringed every time. There was another gunshot, followed by a scream, and Matteusz fought the urge to cover his ears. He despised guns. Charlie hid behind the floor length curtains of a small window facing the side of his bed and the door behind it. The window did not reach the floor or anywhere close to it, so Matteusz had to wonder if they were made so long specifically for hiding purposes. The gentle breeze coming through Charlie’s open window moved the curtains enough that there was no sign of Charlie’s panicked breathing. Charlie could only just see through the curtain.

The door was forced open by a soldier with a wild look in their eyes. High ranking, but he could not remember the name. He was too afraid. Were they an enemy? Was this a coup? Mother had always been so adored by the people, there was no significant outcries from the Rhodians. A Quill takeover? There had been the beginnings of a rebellion in the Southern Quarters. But how would they get a Rhodian soldier on their side? Did it really matter? The soldier had a gun in their hand, it was all he could see. He was going to die. He had heard the adults speak of death and sound so _sad_. All he knew was that the Cabinet would take care of his soul but his body would be left to dust-

Matteusz nearly choked. The fear, the manic thoughts, were all racing through his mind. But it was not his fear. They certainly were not his thoughts. He felt and thought them as if they were his but they were not his. They couldn’t be his. They belonged to a frightened child. A child trapped alone in a room with a man with a gun, knowing that there was danger but not knowing the source. Somehow, he had been given Charlie’s emotions. Matteusz knew very well what death was, as did the Charlie he knew, but Matteusz knew that his first thoughts on the subject would not be that he would be going into the care of the Cabinet. 

Not that it mattered because the soldier was searching through the room and calling Charlie’s name. The soldier did not sound angry or like he was attempting to lull Charlie into a false sense of security. He sounded terrified. Matteusz could hear his voice crack and the blatant sound of someone trying to stifle their sobs. He had stopped calling out Charlie’s name and was instead begging for him to respond through his tears.

It seemed to work. The man sounded desperate enough that Charlie moved from the protection of the curtain. If the soldier was indeed a threat Charlie could easily escape through the window behind him. Charlie was small enough to get through. The soldier would have difficulty. Matteusz hoped it was the right decision. He decided it was when he saw the look of relief on the man’s face. He ran up to Charlie and almost seemed like he was about to hug him, but thought better of it. Matteusz had figured out a while ago that it seemed to be inappropriate behaviour to touch a member of the royal family. 

The soldier was crying. Matteusz was given a flash of recognition from Charlie- recently widowered, two children about Charlie’s age. Charlie reached out to squeeze the man’s shoulder, but the man jerked away. The no-touch rule seemed to go deep. 

“Your highness, there’s been a Quill intruder,” the soldier said. His voice was gruff and trying to sound authoritative, but it just sounded wrong when thick with tears. “We were worried they would come after you next.”

“Next?” Charlie and Matteusz asked in unison. Charlie began to send waves of concern over to Matteusz. Soldiers? Staff? The man sniffled again. 

“Your father, Prince K’har-les,” the man said. “His soul has gone away.”

Matteusz felt as if a bucket of ice water had been tipped over him, and he was not sure that it was coming from Charlie. He had just assumed that both of Charlie’s parents had died in the Shadow Kin invasion. Charlie had never said anything to suggest otherwise. Of course, Charlie rarely spoke of his parents. Even if he did it was only of them as a collective or his mother. Matteusz had never heard Charlie speak of his father on his own before. Maybe that was why the Lankin could not take his father’s form. It was hard to develop a close bond with a distant parental figure who died when you were seven.

“How?” Charlie asked. His voice was hard, like it was when Matteusz knew him and he was in Prince mode. Maybe Charlie wanted something to make it all real. Or maybe at seven after learning his father had just died his instinct was still to be a tactician. 

“That can wait,” the soldier answered. Matteusz could feel a slight flare of anger. Charlie had asked a question and should be given the necessary information. Was he killed in battle with the invaders? Did they need to be watchful for bombs? He needed to know so that they could discern the skillset of their attackers- But those were Charlie’s thoughts. Matteusz knew that meant that there were some things a child did not need to know. By all indications, Charlie’s father had died an unpleasant death. That information could, indeed, wait. 

“I have been sent to stand guard until the alarms end,” the soldier continued. Charlie nodded. He had not yet learned how to fight with a weapon. His hands were too small for a gun, his arms too weak for a sword. So far he had only learned hand to hand. He had understood it completely, they needed to build up his strength, but now he felt defenceless without a weapon. His training would greatly benefit him when he grew older but in the present- well, no one would be defeated by a child with knowledge of only the basics. If they were attacked Charlie would be left to watch the soldier die and then be killed himself.

Matteusz wanted to hold Charlie as they waited for the sirens to stop. Charlie was too young to be in a situation like this. The bells must have been deafening to his sensitive hearing. Matteusz could feel Charlie’s fear but he could not see it. A Prince through and through, no matter what happened. Even if everyone he had ever known was slaughtered and he was trapped on an alien planet being chased by the species that did the slaughtering. It seemed the only thing that could break Charlie’s Princely demeanor was a psychological breakdown. And even then Charlie did it with a sense of decorum. 

It took almost a minute for Matteusz to realise that the ringing in his ears was just echoes, not the bells themselves. They had stopped. Shortly after they were replaced by another set of bells. These were higher in pitch and instead of being a continuous drone they were sharp rings. The soldier stood up.

“The palace is clear. I will escort you to the throne room anyway, your highness.”

They walked slowly and were routinely stopped by panicked guards wondering if they were the intruder. Each almost collapsed in relief when they saw that Charlie was there as well. Matteusz heard one of them whisper to the soldier that the intruder had last been seen heading towards Charlie’s room. He knew that Charlie heard it too but was pretending that he had not. The adults were happier if they thought he could not hear them. Charlie liked to make people happy. 

The throne room was almost empty. Guards were lined up outside of course, but there were only a handful of people inside. It seemed like most people were scanning the palace. One man whose blue hair had long since turned grey kept stopping mid conversation and listening to a device curled around his ear. Someone must have been giving him updates which he then passed on to the Queen. Charlie’s mother was pacing around the room. She gave orders with a voice of unwavering calm but her fingers were drumming her sides. By her standards she seemed slightly dishevelled in her bed clothes and hair clasped back in a loose ponytail instead of her ornate garments and hairstyles. Still someone who had spent twelve hours in a stylist’s chair would have difficulty being as immaculate as she.

She and Quill could be sisters. Not in appearance- Charlie’s mother was shorter, with a broader figure than Quill’s slender one and a heart shaped face that had helped contribute to Charlie’s square jaw. She was not a woman who screamed severity like Quill did. But the way they carried themselves was the same. The power they exuded effortlessly was the same. Charlie’s mother had not devoted herself to lines sharp enough to cause pain but still one would never be able to look at her without thinking she was a warrior. It was impossible to forget that she was a Queen. 

Matteusz could feel that Charlie wanted to run to her. She had given no notification that she knew he was there and he wanted her to know. He wanted to hide in her skirts like he had when he was very young and had to hold her leg because he had been too small to reach her waist. The adrenaline was wearing off so Charlie was growing tired even though the fear was still causing his heart to thump. He just wanted his mother. But he dared not approach her. He was a Prince. Princes did not run for their mothers.

So they waited. Standing in silence while aids came and went, guards changed over, and the palace fell into an uneasy quiet as people collapsed in exhaustion. But eventually everyone had left. It still took time for the Queen to realise she was not alone in the room. When she did she beckoned Charlie closer and stood behind him. She leaned her head on his and wrapped her arms around him. Just like Matteusz used to (would later?) do. 

“Do you know what they did, darling?” She asked. Her voice sounded sweet, but flat. Not kind like when she used to speak to Charlie. As if there was nothing on the inside. An empty tin can pretending to be a rose. “Your father was asleep. He always sleeps so soundly. The Quill leant over him and slit his throat.” She drew a line over Charlie’s ridged neck with her fingernail. 

“Let him go,” Matteusz whispered.

“Then they stabbed his heart,” she continued, pressing her hand against Charlie’s side. “Before stabbing him in the head right here.” She pressed one finger to Charlie’s temple and pushed before tilting his chin up so that he was looking at her. Tears were shining in her eyes. “The Quill are monsters. They couldn’t just kill your father. They had to mutilate him as well. The Quill are _evil_ , K’Har-les.” 

Her grip tightened. Matteusz felt the pain in his arms just as surely as if she was crushing him instead. Charlie was not responding. Then the Queen let Charlie go. She collapsed on the stairs to the platform the thrones were on. Hers and Charlie’s. There was no need to have one for the Prince Consort any longer. She buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

“There was so much blood. They will have to burn the bed. They will have to burn-” She could not continue through the heaving sobs that wracked her body. Charlie walked up to her. His resolve broke and he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing his small hands across his mother’s back. She raised her hands from her cheeks and held Charlie tightly to her. Without her hands to shield her face she buried it in Charlie’s shoulder instead. Charlie was not crying. He did not entirely understand.

Matteusz knew that Charlie did not entirely believe what he sometimes said about Quill and her kind. Charlie certainly believed that Quill herself was a criminal even if he still refused to fully explain to Matteusz exactly what it was that Quill had done. But when he extrapolated that to all Quill, Charlie’s belief seemed to waver. It sounded more like relaying the words of those around him. Matteusz would know- he had said some reflectively terrible things about gay people when he was a child. They were the words of someone who had not yet had a moment to force themselves to question what they had been taught. And who would teach hatred better than a woman whose husband had been murdered while she slept beside him?

Time began to race forward again.

\--- 

“I’m not leaving him!” 

April was sure she had not seen Charlie so hysterical in his life. He was more frantic than he had been even when locked in the classroom. She had heard about what had happened while she was still dead(ish), but considering how Tanya had practically hid herself in the corner of the living room April doubted that it was like this either. All because Ram had tried to convince Charlie to leave. They had decided that their best chance at figuring out what was going on was to follow the bugs again and hope they led them to a base of some kind. Ram had first asked Charlie to come with them. When he got no response, he touched Charlie to get his attention. After that he tried to gently pull Charlie away from Matteusz. 

The reaction had been immediate and violent. Charlie had pushed Ram back hard enough that he nearly flew across the room before clinging to Matteusz. Now they were trying to convince him that Matteusz would be safe where he was and that Charlie could help him more by coming with them. But Charlie was adamant that he would not leave Matteusz alone. Ram seemed to be nearing the end of his rope. His relationship with Charlie since her shooting, probably from the moment Ram’s father died, had been strained to say the least. Which broke her heart because Ram had finally admitted that he actually kind of liked their alien Prince.

“He could be _dying_! You do understand that, right? That alien person could tell us how to save him and we need your help!”

“Why? So I can kill her? Because that’s all that happens when I try to help, Ram. Everyone dies!”

“And you’re just going to watch Matteusz be one of them?! Do you really care about him so little?!”

It was quite frankly a miracle that Ram managed to stop the punch aimed at his head. He was clearly straining with the effort of holding Charlie back. It was probably only that Charlie was overwhelmed by emotions that kept him from striking Ram repeatedly. April had seen boys beat each other up over less. They were looking each other directly in the eyes. 

“Help us save him,” Ram said through gritted teeth. Charlie turned around to look at Matteusz, but did not lower his arm. He did not seem to be forcing it any more though because the strained look on Ram’s face was fading.

“He can’t die… he’s too good to die,” Charlie whispered.

“You know it doesn’t work like that.” 

“Not him… _please_ not him,” Charlie croaked. Ram walked forward- slowly at first, like he was approaching a dangerous animal, then faster, with more certainty, before pulling Charlie into his arms. Charlie began to sob into Ram’s shoulder while Ram tightly held onto him. Charlie continued to mumble and Ram responding with “I know” and, surprisingly, a kiss to Charlie’s temple. 

“We need to go,” Ram said. Charlie whined but still nodded. “It’s the only way.” He let Charlie go, but led him out by the hand. Tanya and April followed nervously. Tanya stopped at the door and ran back to cover Matteusz with a blanket before running back out. 

“If we follow the bugs we should be fine,” Ram called back to them as they walked around the sleeping people. “I can’t _believe_ I just said that.”

“‘Why can’t it be follow the butterflies?’” Charlie muttered. None of them could stifle the laugh.

“Charlie, did you just make a pop culture reference?” April asked, smiling. She may have hosted the Potterthon but she had not expected him to actually be able to quote anything from it. Charlie turned his head towards her and- in the first time in so very long- smiled at her. She had forgotten how Charlie’s face lit up when he smiled. A pity that it was so rare these days.

They kept walking. There were more people than there had been before. It was odd that so many people could be attacked but no one heard the screams. Matteusz had screamed so loud that if there was any glass nearby April would have sworn it would shatter. Maybe there was some other deciding factor. The bugs began to increase in quantity as they walked but there were no ladies with pressure syringes and there were fewer bodies as well. Maybe all the victims outside of Matteusz had been alone? They were far enough apart for that to be plausible. But surely they would have been heard in the residential areas- They stopped as the bugs reached their destination. The school. They were all going to the roof of the school. Because where else would be the centre of an alien invasion that was causing a lot of problems for people and could possibly endanger the lives of everyone in their area.

“Well,” Tanya said. “Shall we?”

\---

Charlie’s sixteenth birthday. Matteusz remembered his own. Despite being in England for over a year at that point, he still had no one he could really call a friend. There were people he hung out with at school but none who really went out of their way to talk to him outside of it. So once he had gotten home from school he had got out his favourite tv show and watched his favourite episodes for the eight hundredth time. He had gone down and had a pleasant dinner with his parents and then had a skype call with his Babcia. It had been quiet and intimate and while it certainly was not the best birthday he had ever had it was enough to make him happy.

It was nothing like Charlie’s. It was not adulthood on Rhodia, but it was the age that a monarch could begin to rule alone. And therefore the age where the eldest child was to be formally named heir apparent. Matteusz hated when a group of people all said happy birthday to him at once, finding that being the centre of attention (no matter how well intentioned) was supremely uncomfortable. At least he did not have to be the focus of a ceremony that was being televised globally to the homes of a people who had been given the day off work just to celebrate said ceremony. While people in large groups were constantly saying happy birthday.

He and Charlie were waiting behind the doors of the throne room. Crowds were cheering outside. It was more festive than any incident to do with the royals Matteusz had seen in England. Matteusz was proud of the cheers and wished he could be there to keep Charlie calm and tell him how much his people loved him. How much Matteusz loved him. Maybe in another life they were standing here together while Charlie waited to be crowned King. Matteusz would squeeze Charlie’s shoulders before cradling Charlie’s face. He would give him a gentle but breathtaking kiss while his wedding ring got caught in the sunlight. Matteusz had entertained many bizarre fantasies such as that. 

“I’m right beside you,” Matteusz said. Charlie turned his head towards him. Looked right at him. Matteusz felt his heart stop. Could Charlie see him? Matteusz had assumed that Charlie couldn’t because no one else could. Charlie certainly had given no indication of being able to notice him. But here he was, looking at him. Smiling at him now. Matteusz reached his hand out to touch Charlie’s face, but he turned away.

“Just a trick of the light,” Charlie muttered to himself, before straightening his back and raising his chin. Of course. There was no way that Charlie could see him. It was ridiculous to even entertain the idea. Still, it would have been nice. He missed Charlie. His Charlie was still being formed out of the clay. The finishing touches had not yet begun. Even so, he wished he could be there to keep this Charlie company. He could feel the loneliness when Charlie let his guard down. He could feel the nerves and knew that it would take only a clasp of the hand to help calm Charlie down, but no one touched him anymore. All the commoners refused, and Charlie’s mother had not touched him since the night his father died. The only physical contact Charlie got was either accidental or during his physical training.

Watching Charlie’s fights had certainly become interesting. Matteusz had become bored at some points and joined in, actually managing to pick up some moves that would certainly make Ram’s jaw drop. If he ever saw Ram again. But as Charlie grew he found that Charlie’s heart was beginning to race for some different reasons. The combination of teenage hormones, a _very_ attractive instructor, and some fights where he had ended up pinning Charlie beneath him while they were both panting and sweating profusely had caused Charlie to send some fun emotions through the bond. Matteusz wondered if he should have felt jealous, but he just laughed as Charlie tried to make sure his instructor did not know that he was enjoying this as more than the heat of a fight. There was some heartbreak as well when Matteusz saw just how much Charlie enjoyed being pinned. If Matteusz tried now, or even just rolled over Charlie in his sleep, he more than often caused an attack of claustrophobia. 

The Charlie he knew could never be in the room they were now. Most of the time Charlie’s fear came from being unable to leave than being enclosed, but this room was small enough that there was no way that Charlie would be able to even get inside. But all of his nerves were coming from the proceedings about to happen, not the size of the room. How could such a severe phobia develop in less than a year? Not that it mattered- the door was opening. Charlie took a deep breath and began to walk. Music was playing on instruments that Matteusz had never heard anything similar to playing notes in a progression that was outright strange to his ears. He had grown quite fond of it. The crowd (how could all these people even fit inside the throne room?) knelt as Charlie walked past. 

Charlie’s mother was standing at the front of the room. All signs of sweetness had disappeared from her face. Now she was a stern woman that Charlie had begun to fear more than love. The death her husband- or perhaps the from the trauma of knowing that he had been murdered when she was right beside him- had burned the heart out of her. It had become a game to her and the Quill to see who would do the most reprehensible thing first. But now she was standing while the Cabinet was placed on a pedestal behind her, high enough that it lofted over everyone. When Charlie reached the bottom of the stairs he knelt. She recited a speech to the crowds watching both in person and through the televisions (that were not really televisions, but Matteusz did not know what best to call them). Then began the true part of it.

“Do you swear to give your body, mind, and will to the people of Rhodia?”

“I swear it.”

“Do you swear to act always in ways that will best honour the people of Rhodia, no matter your sacrifice, dignity, or personal desire?”

“I swear it.”

“Do you swear to protect and shepherd the souls of the Rhodian people, even at the cost of your own soul?

“I swear it.”

The Queen lay the crown in her hands on Charlie’s head. It was a crown smaller than her own, and far less ornate. It reminded Matteusz more of a metal and engraved headband more than anything. But it fitted Charlie’s face perfectly, settling in Charlie’s hair and emphasising the strong lines in his face and his beautiful blue eyes. Matteusz had never found Charlie to be so beautiful. It was like a punch to the gut that he would be happy to take constantly for the rest of his life. Because he had never seen Charlie look more like _Charlie_. The steel resolve of a Prince, the kind face of his lover, and that almost mischievous sparkle deep in his eyes. Is she smiling? Charlie wondered, and Matteusz looked up at Charlie’s mother. If you looked hard enough, you could see the slightest lift in the corners of her mouth. It was not what Matteusz would consider a proper smile, but on Charlie’s mother it was the closest one would get. 

“Arise Prince K’har-les, my eldest and only child. Heir apparent, and entrusted servant of the people of Rhodia!”

As Charlie stood, the crowds somehow managed to cheer louder than they had before. Outside they were even chanting his name. In the front row, Charlie’s speech writer was clapping while tears rolled down his cheeks. Charlie knelt once more, facing his people this time. This was what he was born for. Matteusz could feel the certainty with which Charlie dedicated himself to his vows but he had not needed to. He had seen them every moment he had spent with Charlie. He feared that Charlie believed that by using the Cabinet he had broken them. Matteusz doubted that there had ever been someone so dedicated to the people of Rhodia as Charlie was. And it was significantly easier to be dedicated to a people when they weren’t all dead. 

Time sped up again, leaving behind Charlie’s day of glory and racing through the last year of life on Rhodia. It was going too fast. Matteusz was beginning to feel ill as the images blurred around him and he was getting lost in the motion. Out of desperation, he reached out and grabbed hold of the images around him. This slammed the brakes on the movement around him. He was thrown to the ground and had to swallow down the bile rising in his throat. They were still in the throne room. Charlie and his mother were dressed in their full regal attire. The black leather and stony expressions made them look foreboding. He turned around to he was looking at and saw-

Her. She was easy to recognise, even if she was orange. Her name was certainly accurate- quills were sticking out of her head, her face, her shoulders and judging by the loose fit of her clothing every part of her body like a human’s hair. Even in defeat Quill had a satisfied grin on her face. It must have brung her joy to see the Rhodian royalty look at her with such barely contained anger. 

Charlie’s emotions towards her were a tangled mess of misery. There was sympathy- not for Quill herself, but the rest of her species. He hoped that his mother would grant them some leniency now that their leader had been captured and most of the rebels imprisoned or killed in battle. It was likely a futile hope. But there was also fear, hatred, disgust. He felt like a petulant child. It was a just punishment and he should be honoured to carry it out. But the thought of being tied to this woman forever sickened him, which in turn made him unworthy of being her carer. How could he trust himself not to abuse his power over her when he wanted nothing more than her death? Anyway, she had only murdered his father. He was a political figure; assassination was a consequence that could come from that. No, she should go to the families. His pain was nothing compared to those who lost their children, their siblings. Or the five survivors who lost their peers. Four, now. One had killed themselves out of grief. 

Charlie and Quill locked eyes as his mother announced her decision of punishment. Matteusz could feel Charlie’s satisfaction when he saw the flicker of horror that appeared in Quill’s eyes when the word “ahn” was mentioned. With the hatred surging through both of them, Matteusz had difficulty believing that they had managed to keep it contained to petty arguments and insults. It was a miracle they had not shot each other dead. Yet. There was still plenty of time for them. 

Time that was going faster and faster. Matteusz was sure that his head would explode if the world did not stop moving. Not once had he left his spot in the throne room, unlike other times where he would be transported wherever this train ride he was on wanted to take him. Still he felt like he had been thrown around the room like a rag doll and then stomped on for good measure. Then been on a plane pretending to be a roller coaster while experiencing the worst turbulence imaginable. And now, when time slowed down again it was to screaming. So much screaming.

Oh _no_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and his mother have thrones side by side in the flashbacks. That would either mean that the King would have a separate throne room, or that the consort either does not get a throne or is dead. Considering that Charlie's mother is in charge of what happens to the Quill, his father is almost certainly the consort not the reigning monarch. Charlie also does not mention him during the Shadow Kin invasion so I assume he died beforehand. 
> 
> I really wanted to have a good Ram and Charlie moment in this. I need those two to have all the moments. Also, Charlie being adored on Rhodia is a headcanon you will have to pry from my cold and lifeless hands. 
> 
> And now a heads up- I was hoping to finish writing the entire fic before I start uni, but that has not happened. Because of this, starting from next week the updates will probably be slower (perhaps slowing down to once a week or something like that). Slowing the updates down now means that there will hopefully not be any large gaps without updates later on. 
> 
> Comments are always welcome :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after getting a heart attack after seeing the Mirror article this morning I thought I'd post a new chapter to cheer myself and hopefully some other people up. That probably would have worked a little bit better if this chapter wasn't a little bit on the dark side. And by a little I mean ho boy. 
> 
> This chapter is the entire reason for the Graphic Violence warning, and... yeah. It's there for a reason.

They had to stop to catch their breath once they burst through the door to the roof. It was probably a laughable sight- here to take over the world and the only thing to stop you was four teenagers who were so winded by running up a few flights of stairs that they had to stop to recover. It should have been a commercial for a gym. Do cardio! Or else embarrass yourself in front of an alien invader! Their subscriptions would triple within a month. No one wanted to look like a knob during their superhero moment. 

The woman was standing near the ledge, watching as her work unfolded in the city beneath her. The insect creatures scuttled around her. They curled around her and pawed at her to get her attention and were rewarded with scratches on the head. Alien insects that behaved like cats. Fantastic. She was so preoccupied with her villainy and insect cats that she did not seem to notice the teenagers stumbling through the door. Silver lining.

“Do you want my help too?” She asked. Okay, maybe she had noticed them. 

“Yeah, because comas are helpful,” Tanya muttered.

“Only during exams,” Ram replied. 

“What have you done to them?” Charlie demanded. His voice had gone to that cold authority that signalled ‘I am your ruler and you will obey me’. Even a serial killer imprisoned on a meteor had cowered beneath that voice. But the alien woman did not look frightened. Instead she smiled at him and began to answer- not because he demanded, but because she could give him something that he wanted.

“I am the solver of discord.”

“That does not answer my question!”

“That boy. You love him dearly. And he loves you. You both want to heal the pain that keeps you apart and I can _help_.”

“Oh what the h- get it off me!” Tanya screamed. The bugs had begun to climb over them now, biting at whatever skin they could get to. They avoided Charlie. They had already taken what they wanted from him. They began to pull the bugs off them, sharp screams of pain when they felt memories being ripped from their heads. 

“What did you do to him?!” Charlie did not sound regal now. He sounded terrified and heartbroken. His voice was beginning to crack and there were tears in his eyes.

“I gave him your memories, sweet Prince. Bitter King. Here,” she said, a green light emitting from her hand. The light coiled itself around Charlie’s wrist and began to dig itself into his skin. He could feel it coursing through his veins. Everything in his body felt like it was on fire. “Let me show you.”

\---

They had sealed the doors into the corridor. It had been filled with every person they could find, Rhodian and Quill alike. Some were crying. Some had turned catatonic. All were petrified. The screams that had filled the air since the previous afternoon were all gone now. There was no one left to make them. The only sounds that remained were coming from the Shadow Kin. The Shadow Kin who were currently banging on the doors. Everyone jumped with each thump against the door. Beside Matteusz a Rhodian and Quill were holding each other in comfort. Some were preparing to fight side by side. Their hatred towards each other, this close to the end, had been forgotten. Parents were trying to hush their crying children. Lovers were locked in tight embraces, wanting to be with each other to the end. Charlie was shielding the children of the soldier who had once saved his life. They had lost their mother so young, and now had watched their father die as well. It seemed decorum no longer mattered because one was tightly clinging to Charlie’s back.

There was another bang. This one caused dust to fall from the wood around the doors. The monsters were almost through. Someone began to wail. They had been as creative as possible with weapons, scavenging ones they could find on the bodies of the fallen and making them out of whatever they could find. At one point they had even doused books in alcohol, lit them on fire and threw them at their enemy. But there still was not enough for everyone. There certainly was not enough to hold the Shadow Kin back. 

Another bang rattled the corridor. Then again. And then the Shadow Kin came bursting through. It was chaos. Those with guns tried to shoot as many of the rows of Shadow Kin as they could, but there were too many for them to bring down. Melee weapons, even if they were just remnants of door hinges, went next. They stood no chance. The Shadow Kin swords did not cause mere flesh wounds. One hit would slice through skin and bone and everything in between. The leg of a dining chair could not compete. 

There was so much blood. It stained the walls, the floors, and everyone caught near the carnage. But there were no bodies for it to be coming from. Just shadows burned into the floor. Shadows with disembodied limbs, or trying to run away, maybe even lucky enough to glance an avenging blow. The last moments of a person’s life etched forever into the place that they died.

Charlie was trying to shoot while the people behind him slammed their bodies into the doors of the throne room. It had meant to be a safety precaution, locking the throne room when it was not in use. Now it was probably going to get them all killed. (It _was_ going to get them all killed. Everyone except Charlie). The Shadow Kin were getting closer. One was almost within distance of Charlie. He tried to shoot it but the sweat on his palms caused the gun to slip and he missed. The Shadow Kin raised its sword, smiling as it did. Charlie continued to shoot at the Shadow Kin behind his attacker while he waited for the fatal blow.

It never came. Instead there was a splash of blood over his abdomen. One of the children had stepped in front of the Shadow Kin’s sword. He looked down at the sword in the boy’s chest, not entirely comprehending what had been done to him, before bursting into shadow. His sister screamed and grabbed one of the fallen weapons on the floor. She did not even get close to the Shadow Kin who had murdered her brother before she was murdered too.

The doors to the throne room were open. One of the Shadow Kin threw their sword, managing to impale two people on it and locking them to the door. Charlie was pulled back by someone as the Shadow Kin began to charge, only narrowing missing a Shadow Kin blade because they had lost their footing in the sister’s blood. They managed to get inside. There was still a man running. Everyone yelled at them to run faster and keep moving. He almost made it- his hand stretched out and brushed the fingertips of someone reaching back to him. Those fingertips were then sprayed with blood and the shadow of his hand was permanently imprinted onto them. The doors were slammed shut.

In five minutes they had gone from sixty to seven. The doors would not hold the Shadow Kin for long. It had taken them half an hour to break the doors down- the Shadow Kin were far more against a weaker door. The Quill man collapsed to the floor in front of the doors, his eyes fixated on the blackened tips of his fingers. Charlie was still staring at the door. His hands were shaking. He still had his gun aimed at the main doors. 

Matteusz was slumped on the ground. He did not want to be here. He did not want to see this. It was a coward’s thoughts that he should be able to run away while Charlie had been forced to live it and then live it again every time he closed his eyes. But even aside from the horrors that were unfolding Matteusz felt as if he were invading some core part of Charlie. This was Charlie’s story to tell, and that he had not spoken to Matteusz about it meant that he was not ready for Matteusz to know. And no wonder. It was a miracle that Matteusz had not yet been sick.

“Protect the Queen and her son at all costs,” a Rhodian woman said. To everyone’s surprise, the two surviving Quill in the room both nodded in agreement with them. 

“What point is there now?” Charlie croaked. He was still staring at the door. His combat instructor (and part time bodyguard, Charlie’s mind supplied) spun him around and grabbed his face. 

“We don’t know how many people are out there. Frightened and desperate people who need a leader. We need that to be you, your highness.”

“But I need to fight! I can’t let more people die protecting me-”

There was another bang. The Shadow Kin had begun their destruction of these doors as well. Charlie’s mother raised her gun, but her grip was on the barrel instead of the handle. She slowly inched forward. One of the others nodded to the instructor and he stood back from Charlie. The Queen brought the gun down on Charlie’s head, stunning him but not knocking him unconscious. She caught him as he fell.

“I’m sorry darling but this had to be done.” She began dragging Charlie to the room where he had waited before the ceremony where he had been crowned heir apparent. Where he would have waited to be crowned King. It was so small and dark in there. The Queen began to whisper so quietly only Charlie could hear. And Matteusz. “The Doctor won’t get here in time if he comes at all. You have to get to the Cabinet. You have to survive so you can get to the Cabinet.” 

She pushed Charlie into the room. Suddenly, Matteusz was inside it as well. There was shadow everywhere- a Shadow Kin could attack from any side but it was too small for him to move. He could feel the darkness constricting around him. It had sharp edges clawing at his skin. The air itself felt like it was burning his face. It was so small that he couldn’t even breathe. He had to get out.

“Please don’t do this,” Charlie begged. His mother smiled at him with a deep sadness. Matteusz had seen that look in Charlie’s eyes, had seen that same smile, right after he had been forced to kill April. The look of someone who had lost almost everything and was now forced to lose the one thing they had left. And then she locked them inside the room. 

Everyone prepared themselves as the banging increased in frequency. They armed themselves with whatever they could, except for the Quill man in front of the doors. He did not move. Instead he continued to stare at the shadow imprinted on his hands. Charlie stood in his box and shook. His heart was pounding with adrenaline and the need to move but he was trapped. Confined in what was little more than a cupboard. There was nothing that he could do. He was only meant to be in here during the two times he was crowned. It felt like sacrilege to be hiding in here while his people were massacred.

The Shadow Kin broke through. It was almost a relief that they were spared from any more waiting. The Shadow Kin swarmed inside the room. They could see almost nothing but Matteusz knew that the Quill man had been crushed beneath their feet. The room would light up with every blast from a gun, then dim again after the inevitable death scream that followed. Some of the people that had been in that room Charlie did not even know. They could have been anybody, with friends and families and people to go back to. People waiting for them to come back. And then there were the people he did know- his mother’s bodyguard, who had been first aside from the Quill man to die. She had been so steadfastly loyal to the Queen he knew there were whispers that she was in love. Then an old scholar from the university in the north of the city, who was pioneering research and frequented the castle to give Charlie and his mother updates. Charlie’s instructor was the last to fall. They could see only a splatter of blood. Judging by the angle, he had been guarding Charlie.

The Queen was being swarmed by Shadow Kin. She elbowed one approaching behind her and kicked one in front of her. A punch to the sternum that broke through to the heart. A kick to the knees so that the Shadow Kin would drop and then wrapped her arm around its neck. The snap of the bone was sickening. She raised her gun and shot one, two, then switched hands and shot ones approaching her from another angle. Soon there was only one Shadow Kin left. 

“Your people have been conquered. You are less than scum. Bow to me.”

“Oh shut _up_ , Corakinus.” Then the Queen delivered a kick to the Shadow Kin’s head. It connected, but he raised his sword and sliced the limb off at her thigh. Charlie had to bite his lip to stop from screaming. Matteusz had to rest his head on the wall and try to regulate his breathing. The Queen raised her gun to shoot but that arm was sliced off as well. 

“Kneel!” Corakinus ordered.

“No.” She tried to jab the fingers of her still usable arm into Corakinus’ eye. He cut through that limb too. There was so much blood. Charlie had begun to cry. Corakinus blinded the Queen in one eye, just as she had tried to do to him.

“Don’t watch. Close your eyes, please.” Matteusz begged. Charlie did not. He kept watching even though his skin had gone white and his blue lips were now stained with blood as Charlie bit on them to stay quiet. Matteusz wrapped his arms around Charlie’s back, rubbing Charlie’s stomach even though he knew he would not be able to feel it. Charlie curled his fingers around the grate on the door.

Corakinus forced the Queen to her knees by removing the other leg. He stopped to catch his breath, kicking away one of the disembodied legs. The Queen had been turned into a bloodied lump of flesh lying on the steps of her throne. Matteusz thought that if she had any sort of leverage she would still be fighting back. She was like that.

“Everything you made me do to you,” he panted. “I am going to do your son. Slowly. Piece by piece. Pathetic.” Corakinus spat on the Queen’s face and Matteusz had never felt more anger in his life. Her parenting techniques were certainly questionable and her views on Quill disturbing at best- but for the Rhodians she was a damned good Queen. One who deserved far more respect than Corakinus gave her. More than he was capable of giving anyone. And he had planned to do the same to Charlie. 

“Your soul will rot in the mouths of flies,” She muttered through gritted teeth. Corakinus raised his sword once more and brought it down. The Queen’s head rolled off her body. Charlie could not stop the small whine of shock as he saw his mother’s one good eye staring lifelessly at him. Unfortunately, the sound was enough to alert Corakinus to his presence. Charlie went cold as his eyes locked with the monster who had slaughtered so many. Now he was going to kill Charlie too. Matteusz felt his blood freeze. Corakinus smiled a grin full of sharpened teeth and began to walk towards them.

Only to be stopped by a flurry of limbs. It seemed that he had been weakened by some of the Queen’s blows because he could not defend himself against the strikes coming towards him. He fell. Not long enough to incapacitate him but long enough to do what his attacker needed. The lock to the room was undone and the door opened. Matteusz almost wanted to laugh. It was a relief beyond measure to see Miss Quill standing there in all her glory.

“Run!” She ordered, in that disbelieving tone that made it clear she was incredulous that Charlie had not already done so. Corakinus was beginning to stand up again. They ran as fast as they could. Charlie was leading, his feet taking him where he needed to go on instinct. There was only one thing left they could do- only one chance they had to save their lives and the lives of everyone remaining on the planet. The Cabinet was down a secret corridor leading from the throne room. In the safest room on Rhodia. 

Quill stumbled and fell. The door was right there, but Corakinus was directly behind them. Charlie could either leave her and get to the Cabinet, or keep running and save possibly billions of people. It was the more sensible thing to leave her behind.

“Come on!” Charlie shouted as he pulled Quill to her feet. They only narrowly missed Corakinus’ blade. Running as fast as they could, they barrelled into the chamber that held Rhodian artifacts and locked the door. The Cabinet of Souls was on the highest podium, directly in the eye line of the door. Quill went straight to a glass case to their side and smashed it. Not caring if the glass cut into her skin, she pulled out her coveted gun. Charlie slowly walked to the Cabinet. He could hear it calling to him. It was a cry that reached deep into his gut. If Matteusz had to guess, this was what someone touching your soul felt like. Matteusz knew that Charlie had wanted to use it, but that must have been an emotion that would later grow. Now Charlie only felt a sense of horror. He did not want to open it. If it was empty, they were doomed to die and when they did where would they go? But if it was not… Charlie sent another wave of emotion as he opened the Cabinet. The souls were golden on Charlie’s face. Matteusz knew that he and Charlie were the only living beings in the universe who had actually seen what the Cabinet held inside but they were not the only ones to see what it would do. After everything that happened, knowing everything that would, feeling what Charlie felt, Matteusz had to push himself away before retching in the corner. 

Charlie prepared himself to say the lines, to declare an intent he did not yet have, when their miracle arrived. The whine of an appearing TARDIS. Matteusz could see the shock on Quill’s face as the blue box appeared and almost wanted to laugh. For her it was probably like Winnie the Pooh appearing in your house. Charlie’s disbelief was more akin to a divine experience. The TARDIS was there. It was real. Tangible and ready to save them. The Doctor- except this time looking rather young with spiked brown hair and a brown coat on- pulled the doors open.

“Get in!” He yelled. It managed to pull Charlie and Quill from their shock. Quill ran to the TARDIS, hiding the gun in her clothes. Charlie grabbed the Cabinet, only slightly struggling under its weight. Matteusz had tried to lift that thing at one point and knew exactly how heavy it was when it was full- literally and metaphorically. He would have to ask Charlie exactly how strong he was. Charlie was almost at the doors when he stopped. His heart began to pound. It was so small, especially if it was going to have three people in it. His mind returned to the room he had been locked in. The way the walls had begun to close on him as he lost the ability to breathe. The Doctor seemed like he was about to yell at Charlie before he registered the terror on his face. 

“It’s bigger on the inside. I promise. We have to leave.”

Charlie nodded, closed his eyes and all but ran in. He ran further than the box should have allowed him to go. The air was not stuffy- there was almost a hint of wind. Nothing was closing in on him. He opened his eyes and gasped. It was not just bigger on the inside. It was _huge_. The throne room was only slightly larger. There was someone else in there as well. Someone who looked to Matteusz an awful lot like a human woman. She was asking Quill something. It seemed to be about wounds, because Quill presented her with her bleeding arm. The woman began to press a bandage on it. From the looks of it, she was a doctor too. 

“Have you found anyone else?” Charlie asked. The Doctor and the woman both bowed their heads.

“No,” the Doctor replied. “We need to go.”

“You can help, right? The TARDIS can travel anywhere. We can find the survivors!” Matteusz felt his heart broke. Charlie actually sounded hopeful.

“No. We have to leave.”

“No? What do you mean no?! We can’t just leave them!”

“There is no one else! Believe me, I’ve checked. The only life signs left were the two of you. And once the Shadow Kin have killed enough people their shadow leaks into the planet itself. Rhodia is about to crumble and I am not letting the two of you go with it!”

“No… No, you’re wrong.” Charlie had begun to cry in earnest. Matteusz could have been mistaken, but he could have sworn that Quill was crying too. “This planet has over _three billion people_. They can’t all be gone! We have to go back!”

Charlie turned around, only to be greeted by the Doctor’s companion. She sunk a syringe into Charlie’s neck. He collapsed almost instantly, but the Doctor caught him. A sedative. She gripped Charlie’s hand as if she was trying to comfort him. Then she nodded at the Doctor before returning to looking after Quill’s arm. Quill was now watching her suspiciously. The Doctor lay Charlie down on a couch. He began to run around the console pushing buttons. Soon they had left the atmosphere of Rhodia. 

The world began again when Charlie woke up. For a bright, beautiful moment, he had forgotten what happened. His bed was not as comfortable as it usually was, which was strange. And there was an odd sound in the air. The sound of a- Charlie cracked his eyes open. They had almost been sealed shut by dried tears. The Doctor was still moving around but not as frequently. They seemed to be having an easy flight. The realisation of what happened did not roll over Charlie, or strike him down with despair and horror. It was simply there. He was crying again, and probably had not even stopped, but he was not wanting to scream in anguish. His heart was not churning up his insides. There was nothing. Inside him was just a gaping hole where the Shadow Kin had reached in and scooped out his internal organs. Matteusz had often wondered how Charlie had managed to wake up every day and act with a sense of normalcy after becoming one of the last survivors of a massacre. It seemed that there was only so much a person could take before they just became numb. 

“Where are we going?” Charlie asked. He sounded so young. He looked it as well, curled up on the couch and using his hands as a pillow. 

“You can stay with us until we know that the two of you are safe, then we will take you to Earth.”

“Earth?” Charlie had never heard of it. 

“It’s a delightful but low level planet in a galaxy they refer to as ‘the milky way’.”

“The Shadow Kin will not find us there?”

“The Shadow Kin and… others. Miss Quill told me who you are. You are a very desirable commodity in a vulnerable position. People who hate the Rhodians will want you for vengeance, the people who liked the Rhodians will use you as a pawn, and Rassilon help you if the Shadow Proclamation finds out where you are. No, on Earth you will be safe. And Martha’s from Earth, so you’ve already made a friend!”

“But she looks nothing like us…”

“No. I will have to change your appearance, I’m afraid. We could use a glamour but they are notoriously faulty. If we make it entirely technological any number of frequencies could disrupt it. Making it psychologically based makes it reliant on your emotional state which, my apologies Prince but that is not going to be the most reliable. No, it will have to be a regulator.”

“Will I be able to change back?” Charlie choked. He did not want to change his appearance. He… he had always liked his face. Matteusz supposed that a man whose appearance naturally altered drastically would have difficulty comprehending just how important physical appearance could be to someone’s identity. Charlie had never mentioned anything, so Matteusz had never stopped to wonder how Charlie felt about his human appearance. Matteusz had always thought that Charlie was so beautiful that he never considered that Charlie would not think the same way.

“Only if someone surgically removes the regulator. It’s a small device implanted in the brain stem that will completely alter your biology. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt.” The Doctor finally turned around. His face almost melted in sympathy. It seemed he had at last noticed that Charlie was crying. He walked over and sat down next to Charlie, rubbing his hand on Charlie’s shoulder. The comfort just made Charlie cry harder.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You’re far too young for this.” Charlie was. Matteusz realised with a sinking gut that Charlie still had a month to go before he turned seventeen. The Doctor had been through the same thing, Charlie’s mind supplied. Tales being passed through the universe of a great war that had led to the Doctor being forced to wipe out the Time Lords. The Doctor was so old and even he had been too young for that to happen. Matteusz had never understood so clearly that Charlie was only a child. In the grand scope of things, they both were. It was not fair.

“We’re going to have to change your name too,” the Doctor said. But it was only an echo now. The memory was fading. “K’Har-les is not a name built for human tongue. And Charles is a bit too stuffy. What about Charlie?”

Matteusz wanted to leave. He wanted to leave the past, whether it be a dream or another universe or he had somehow been placed inside Charlie’s mind. He wanted to go to his Charlie and hold him. Tell him how much he loved him. He just wanted to be with a Charlie who could see him and hear him just so he knew that Charlie was still alive. Because he was alive. He had managed to survive all the horrors that had happened then and the Cabinet as well but still he was alive. Suicidal though he may be, Charlie was someone who refused to die. Matteusz needed to be with that strength because after watching what he just had he could feel himself crumbling.

So Matteusz closed his eyes. He allowed everything to rush over him at once, every thought every sight every feeling that Charlie had crashing into him like waves in an ocean. He smiled to himself as he was pulled under. Soon. He would be with Charlie soon. Even if he had to die to get there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing as the music they used when the TARDIS arrived in the flashbacks was the theme song for the Ninth and Tenth Doctor, I figured it would be one of them who was the rescuer. Somehow, my mind decided it was Ten and Martha and that has stuck.
> 
> Also, I know that how I'm depicting events isn't exact to how they went down in the flashbacks. I personally believe that the events are accurate in a way in terms of what happened but some of the details are not accurate because the visuals are in April's mind. Hence why the Rhodians dress in the uniform of Coal Hill students, Charlie's mother looks vaguely like April and way too young (seriously, until he specified I thought she was meant to be his sister or consort). And of course why Charlie and Quill are in their human forms in the flashback instead of the forms we were shown later. I have also developed a very specific idea of Charlie's mother in my head and altered things to fit that. 
> 
> Comments. Welcome. Always.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the fluff makes up for the angst of the last chapter and the shortness of this one.

They were standing in a sea of memories. Each drop was another thought from another person, all swarming around them. And at the centre of it all was her. A species who bonded with everyone around them. Everyone feeling each other’s emotions and seeing through each other’s eyes. And now she was alone. She had fallen through such a small crack in space and now she was so far away that she couldn’t feel anyone anymore. So many of her friends had fallen through, but not her family. Surrounded by her pets but so thoroughly alone. In a place where everyone was always arguing with each other. She could not understand- her planet had been so peaceful. Everyone had been in harmony and all disputes were easily resolved. Everyone on this planet was so very _sad_.

“But I can help!” She cried. “If you are all bonded like my planet was, there will be no more sadness! No more anger, or fighting! Everyone will be happy!”

“It doesn’t work like that!” Charlie cried. “Some problems just can’t be resolved. Sometimes seeing someone’s point of view doesn’t change yours. And sometimes it just makes it all worse. Stop making it sound so simple!”

“But it is! If he knows how you felt, he wouldn’t be so afraid to love you!”

“It’s not that easy! We didn’t just have a fight- he doesn’t love me because I’m a murderer! I have done something that cannot be undone and cannot be forgiven. I know how he feels, he knows how I feel, and it changes _nothing_!”

“But you’re still alone. You want to be together, so does he, and this way you will be! No one will ever be alone.”

“Humans aren’t built that way! Their brains aren’t capable of a telepathic bond of that magnitude. And anyway, everyone wants to be alone sometimes. Being alone with your thoughts is something that humans enjoy quite a lot. You’re taking away something vital to their psychological well being for something none of them even want. If it worked. But it’s hasn’t, has it? These bonds are killing them.”

“No! No, you’re wrong!”

“I’m in your mind.” Charlie raised his arms. “I know as well as you that they should have woken up a long time ago. _You’re killing them_.”

“Shut up!” She screamed, and the memories all surged in on Charlie at once.

They were under attack. Everyone was dying around her, but she could do almost nothing to defend herself. These creatures could not be stopped by fists, but fists were all the ahn let her have. She wanted to protect people, join in the fight so that they could slow the attack down, but she couldn’t. She wanted to scream. All she could do was run. She had to find the Prince. That sanctimonious Prince who was never going to get the chance to become a Rhodian King who she could actually ally herself with. Now she wanted him dead. No she didn’t. She hated him- it was all his fault that she couldn’t fight back. But if he died so would she, and she wasn’t ready to die yet. She certainly wasn’t ready to be alo-

He would never admit it, because of course the jerk jock likes making himself look good, but he really did. He had actually considered a tie but it made him look like his Dad. He had great collarbones, may as well show them off. That was why he liked her so much. She knew that he liked looking good and she liked looking good too- so tonight they agreed to take the whole school by a storm. Plus, any excuse for a good dance with the possibility of getting it on afterwards. He stopped running his hand through his hair and put that arm around her shoulders instead. He had never seen Rachel look so beautiful, and she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Somehow he had managed to find a girl who was willing to cope with the temperament of a capital p Football Player who wasn’t put off when she found out he was actually a total goofball who liked the cartoon adaptation of Lord of the Rings more. He was the luckiest guy in the-

She still could not trust that the reflection in the mirror was hers. It looked like her. Her eyes, her nose, her lips, her skin that she had to attack every night with cream to keep the breakouts away. There was even the scar near her eyebrow she got when she fell off her bike when she was eleven. It was the biggest relief in the world to have her face back. To be able to look in the mirror and know exactly who she was. But was it really hers? It changed, just for a second, and Corakinus was staring at her. It was his face, and his hands, and she was gone she was _dead_ she had been trapped in hell! She screamed, and screamed, and-

Her brothers were doing all they could. She knew that. Every relative was helping out however they could because wasn’t it so sad? They looked at her family like they were pound dogs needing to be pitied. She didn’t need to be pitied. She was capable of more than they would ever know. She was a warrior- she fought an actual army with her bare hands and saved Quill’s life. And she had tried to force a Prince to commit genocide. She was not someone to be pitied. She was someone to be feared. Because she betrayed her friends. And if given the chance she would do it all again. Her only friends in years and she was willing to just throw them away. She just wanted everything to go back to the way it was-

Where was her son why did his partner leave him she shouldn’t have done that they all hated him it hurt why did it always hurt she was afraid he shouldn’t be sad there was nothing to be sad about how could he cheat on her with her best friend she wanted to be loved everyone hated him he should die she was going to jump their baby was so beautiful he had never smiled so much it was raining but they didn’t care how could she wait to kiss her until the magistrate said so I love you, I hate you so much, I’m sorry-

Charlie crashed back into his own mind like he had lost his footing as he walked. He did not actually fall but he felt as if he had been thrown off a cliff. The woman collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath through her tears. Charlie staggered towards her and knelt down by her side. He could hear as everyone kept fighting off the bugs.

“I just wanted to help,” she choked.

“I know,” Charlie said. He reached out and squeezed her hand in his own. “I did too. Sometimes it just makes it worse.”

“Your mind has many thorns,” she laughed. It turned into a wet and hacking cough. Charlie smiled down at her.

“I’m sorry. You should have had something better as your last.”

“Never. I was never one to resist picking a rose just because I would get cut.” Her hand went limp in Charlie’s as she exhaled her last breath. The bugs fell to the ground. It seemed that they died with her. 

“What did you do?” Ram asked. Charlie tried to bury the hurt that it was automatically assumed to be his fault. He reached forward and closed her glazed eyes.

“Her kind can’t live without being connected to their web. She was dying. And the last thing she did was see a broken world and try to make it a little bit better.” Charlie got to his feet. He was feeling old. Every bit of energy was drained from him and he did not know if he had the strength to walk home. He just wanted to be there when Matteusz woke up. Now that the woman and her bugs were dead the bonds would dissolve. Charlie stumbled, but he did not fall. Ram had caught him, and now was bringing Charlie’s arm over his shoulder. 

“I’ll help you,” he said. They looked at each other, and began to give each other the smallest of smiles. It was easier to heal a relationship when you were actually talking to each other.

“Why couldn’t this school invest in elevators?” Tanya grumbled as they all began the long trawl down the stairs.

\---

Matteusz opened his eyes. There was still one more memory left, it seemed. Charlie was at school. Classes were finished for the day but he was still there trying to make sense of the school work he had been given. He was not having any luck. His eyes were beginning to sting. He was just so _frustrated_. When he had asked who Shakespeare was everyone had looked at him as if he had grown a third head. Even April, who he dared to think he was becoming friends with. The regulator the Doctor had implanted in his brain also acted as a cloaking device- unless he specifically drew their attention to him, no one would even realise he was there. It was lonely. Even on Rhodia people would speak to him even if he could never strike up a significant relationship with them like they could with each other. April was the same, but it seemed to be weakening. With most people he would be completely forgotten as soon as he had stopped speaking to them. April remembered their previous encounters now, and was beginning to notice him not just when he was speaking but when he was in her presence. Maybe the Doctor had programmed the regulator to allow friendships. 

Not that it helped him with his studies. Literature had been one of his favourite pastimes on Rhodia, and discovering that he would be actually learning about it instead of just how to read and write to the high standard expected of the well educated had been a delight. Until he had actually tried to read. Some of the books assigned in his English class were fascinating, but some of them he just could not understand. The subject matter was sometimes strange to Charlie, as to be expected from an alien planet. But when it came to this Shakespeare man he literally could not understand. The majority of the words were complete gibberish. Apparently the language was an old form of English, so the regulator had decided it was so archaic it did not need translating. Charlie was not used to being unable to understand words. He was fluent in every language used on Rhodia, and two dead languages as well. On this planet he only spoke one- and in a very limited form at that.

Charlie buried his head in his hands. He was miserable here. Nothing was right- the colours of the trees, the animals, even the clothes he wore were bizarre. There were some clothes that vaguely resembled what he would wear back home, but they had been made out of actual flesh. Once Charlie had considered buying a pair of trousers, only to find out that the line where pockets normally would be actually contained no pockets at all. Some garments had buttons sewn on them with no button holes. The only thing that slightly made sense to him on this planet was art, but some of that turned into complete nonsense as well. He just wanted to go home.

“Are you alright?” A voice asked. Charlie and Matteusz jumped. Charlie, because he was the only one around. Which meant that the voice had to be talking to him. Which was _impossible_. Matteusz, because this experience had been strange enough. Hearing your own voice while you were in someone else’s mind was just downright surreal. Charlie sniffed and wiped at his eyes. Now he wished no one could see him. Which had been what Matteusz had been worried about. He knew many people did not like it when someone saw him cry. But Matteusz always had had a compulsion to help. 

“I’m fine,” Charlie replied. That was what he needed. More events that did not make any sense in Charlie’s understanding of the world. 

“Do you want to talk?” Past Matteusz asked. 

“I’m just… I really don’t understand Shakespeare.” He felt Charlie’s distress when past Matteusz burst out laughing. Matteusz remembered this so differently. Never had he intended to offend Charlie.

“No one does. I’ll tell you secret,” past Matteusz said as he walked over and leaned into Charlie. “I don’t actually read it. I tried, but it gave me headache. So I go online and look for summaries in Polish.”

“Polish?”

“Yes, I am from Poland.”

“You are not from England?” Charlie asked. Charlie’s confusion had matched the look on Matteusz’s face, before Matteusz burst into laughter.

“You are strange,” Matteusz said, still giggling.

“Sorry, I’m new here…” Charlie knew now why the regulator kept people away from him. He doubted that he had ever been more embarrassed in his life. Little did he know just how much Matteusz liked it.

“It’s been two years, and I still feel new. I still get homesick every day.”

“Homesick?”

“Yeah, when you miss home. Many people think it’s all about the place, but it isn’t. I miss my friends, the sky, and people understanding my references. I even miss the grumpy bus driver who always looked at me like I was thief. Everything here is so different, you know?”

“Yeah.” Oh, Matteusz had had no idea back then. He could still use the internet to listen to Polish music, and he had the ingredients to make Polish food. His friends were just a skype call away. Charlie was beyond simple homesickness. “Does it get better?”

“I think it does if you find new things to love. New friends. New food. New grumpy bus drivers.” Charlie laughed. He had not laughed in months. This strange boy was smiling at him, and it was a very handsome smile. Charlie wanted to keep seeing that smile. And Matteusz had found that laugh to be the most wonderful sound he had ever heard.

“I’m not very good at that, sadly.” Charlie had barely left his house. The idea of going exploring on an alien planet was exciting but the terror was overwhelming. The boy reached out and touched his hand. Charlie had never been touched so easily. He knew that humans seemed to be very physically affectionate, but to have someone touch him without hesitation was… it was one of the best feelings in the world. 

“I am very good at that. I can take you around. Are you hungry now?” Matteusz remembered stumbling over the words he had been so desperate to take Charlie around. He had been certain that it probably would only be friends but even then he wanted to be Charlie’s friend. He had not thought Charlie would later consider this their first date. 

“Oh yes. Is there anything sweet? I like sweet things,” Charlie said, standing up beside Matteusz and putting his things in his bag. The strange boy was smiling again. Charlie had a friend. Not a friend when they remembered he was there friend, but an actual friend. Who wanted to spend time with him. Who was so beautiful when he smiled. 

“You are very cute. Hey, aren’t you in my History class?”

Matteusz started to feel like he was falling backwards. Maybe this was it. He was dying. He heard as he and Charlie talked. They would go to get deep fried mars bars from the fish and chip shop, and Charlie would make such sinful moans Matteusz had nearly had to excuse himself. They talked about everything but also nothing. When the sun was setting and they both urgently needed to go home they exchanged phone numbers and spent all night texting even though they had school the next day. If Matteusz was going to die, he could not think of a better memory to die to. 

“Matteusz!” It was Charlie. He sounded sad. Matteusz whined. He did not want to remember Charlie being sad. Charlie was so much more than his sadness. Matteusz wanted to remember their happy beginning. The way Charlie’s face had lit up when he smiled. The moment that Matteusz had just thrown himself off the cliff and tumbled into love. 

“Matteusz!”

Matteusz groaned. That did not sound like a memory. He had never heard Charlie say his name with quite that amount of desperation before. He cracked open his eyes. Everyone was crowded around him- Charlie directly over his face, Ram looking at him from over Charlie’s shoulder, April at the bottom of his vision with the weight suggesting she was sitting next to him, and Tanya on an angle that meant that she had to have been leaning over the couch. They all smiled in relief when they saw his eyes were open.

“You’re alive,” Charlie whispered, as if it were comparable to ‘you just walked on water’. Matteusz raised his hands and touched Charlie’s face as he sat up.

“This is not dream?” Matteusz asked. Charlie shook his head. “You are real.” Charlie nodded. There was only one way that Matteusz could respond to that. 

Matteusz did not believe in the whole ‘first kisses tell you everything’ rubbish romcoms spouted. Matteusz’s first kiss had been while he was slightly tipsy at a friend’s house and he and said friend had thought why the heck not. His first kiss with Charlie had been to shove it in his parent’s face. Also just to get it over with, because he wanted so desperately to kiss Charlie and he knew that if he didn’t do it soon it genuinely would have to be a perfect kiss that made dolphins flip into the air behind him and was accompanied by loud cheers. He had been so busy regretting not kissing Charlie when he had asked Matteusz to the Prom that he probably would have kissed Charlie the next moment they met anyway. So their first kiss had not been perfect. The way Charlie had kissed him after Matteusz confessed his love had been pretty damn good. But this, though. This was perfect.

Matteusz was trying to pour every emotion he had felt in the past few months into that kiss. The terror as he watched Charlie greet certain death with relief. The sorrow as he watched the man he loved become a husk of who he once was. The pain he had watched Charlie endure and had in turn felt. And above all, the blistering relief that after all of that he still loved Charlie and Charlie still loved him back. There was nothing outside of them, no genocide or grief or weird aliens with syringes. Just the two of them and their arms around each other. Making up for months of not touching each other by grabbing on so tight they could never let go. 

“I love you,” Charlie said, momentarily breaking the kiss. They pushed their foreheads together instead. Maybe if they did it hard enough Matteusz would be able to feel Charlie’s emotions again. It took a few moments for Matteusz to realise that it was the first time Charlie said it out of his own free will. “I love you so much and I thought you were dying-”

“I’m not. I’m here, Charlie. You haven’t lost me.” Then Matteusz leaned forward and kissed Charlie’s ear. “I love you, K’Har-les.”

The name felt strange on Matteusz’s tongue, and he knew that no matter how hard he tried he would never be able to truly pronounce Charlie’s name correctly (even though Charlie was one of the few people who extended Matteusz that courtesy). It was still worth it. Charlie kissed him again, and screw the kiss a few seconds ago. _This_ was the greatest kiss of Matteusz’s life.

They were so entangled in each other that they did not notice (but were extremely grateful, considering the emotional intimacy of the moment) that their friends had sneaked out at the start of that first kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are welcome

**Author's Note:**

> I know that in the show Matteusz looks to have a smart phone, but that feels more like a product placement type thing considering Matteusz doesn't seem like he has a heap of money. You can get pretty cheap smartphones (or smartphone type things) in my country so I just gave him one of those. 
> 
> I don't know why I made Ram hate bugs, probably because imagining the facial expressions was just priceless. Charlie's real name came from me just altering the pronunciation of Charles and now being absurdly attached to it. If they ever reveal Charlie's real name, I'm probably going to have my heart broken. But until then I'm keeping it. 
> 
> Comments are always welcome :)


End file.
